WA- Victims challenge archbishop on three priests

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
March 24, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/wa_victims_challenge_archbishop_on_three_priests

Victims challenge archbishop on three priests

All are “credibly accused” child molesters, they say

None of them have been exposed before in Seattle

Two of them still live in the state; one is deceased

One fathered four kids with Alaskan native women

Another was deemed “unsuitable for the priesthood”

But church officials tell no one about him, group charges

SNAP: “Archbishop should come clean and post all predators' names”

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose – for the first time in the Seattle area - the names of three credibly accused predator priests who worked in the Seattle Catholic archdiocese, including

--one who was deemed “unsuitable for the priesthood” by a church abuse panel,

--one who admits fathering four kids, visiting prostitutes and exploiting 7 Alaskan village women, and

--a third who was “outed” by church officials & was transferred often throughout five states.

Two of them still live in Washington (Seattle & Spokane) and none have been defrocked.

The group will also prod Seattle's archbishop to

--explain why he's kept silent about the three alleged predators, and

--permanently post on his church websites the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of ALL the child molesting clerics who have worked in the Seattle archdiocese. 

WHEN

Monday, March 24 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside the Seattle Catholic archdiocesan headquarters (“chancery”) 710 9th Ave (corner of Cherry St.) in downtown Seattle

WHO

Three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri woman who is the organization's long time outreach director

WHY

SNAP is worried about three credibly accused predator priests who worked in the Seattle archdiocese but have not been locally identified as alleged molesters. Two of them are alive.

1) In 2004, a Seattle archdiocesan abuse panel found Fr. Harold Francis Quigg “unsuitable for the priesthood” because of credible allegations of his “egregious” sexual abuse of a then-17 year old in Washington. But for a decade, Seattle archdiocesan officials kept the accusations against Fr. Quigg hidden from the public and let him stay among unsuspecting parishioners. 

Their rationalization at the time of his offense was, church rules said that 16 year olds were considered adults. (The 'age of consent' has since been raised to age 18.) But the abuse panel said it “would have found that there was sufficient evidence to support the allegation that this priest was involved in the sexual abuse of a minor if the current age of consent law (18 years old) was in place at that time of this event.”

(Copies of the church report will be provided.” Archdiocesan chancellor Dennis O’Leary is familiar with the case. Members of the abuse panel include Lucy Berliner (of the Harborview Center), Joan Cole Duffell (of the Seattle-based Committee for Children), Deacon Michael Riggio (of the Catholic Seafarer's Center), Mary Ellen Stone, and Fr. Michael Tyrrell.

SNAP believes Archbishop Peter Sartain and other Catholic officials are “recklessly, callously and selfishly staying secretive and splitting hairs so they can keep hiding a predator priest.”

Fr. Quigg worked in a number of western Washington towns: Everett (St. Mary Magdalen), Mukilteo (St. John the Evangelist), Kirkland (Holy Family), Seattle (St. James Cathedral), Federal Way (St. Vincent de Paul), Bellevue (Sacred Heart), Renton (St. Anthony), Seattle (St. Bridget) and at Paine Air Force Base. In 1988, he was listed in the Official Catholic Directory as being “on special assignment” - a designation that is often used by bishops to conceal abuse related suspensions. 

According to a priests' directory, Fr. Quigg retired around 2008. His last known address was 2105 Westlake Ave. N. #402, Seattle WA 98109.

The other two priests are Jesuits who worked in the Seattle archdiocese at Manresa Hall in Port Townsend in the 1960s. http://www.seattlepi.com/realestate/article/Castle-for-sale-in-Port-Townsend-5194350.php

2) Fr. James E. Jacobson admitted, in 2007, to fathering four children, sexual involvement with seven Alaskan village women and to visiting prostitutes during trips to Anchorage and Fairbanks. He is accused of raping a 16 year old. He is believed to be living in Spokane.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2007/03/30/Priest-admits-fathering-children-in-Alaska/UPI-75501175271982/

3) Fr. Francis “Frank” W. Callan was in the archdiocese from 1960 to 1962 and was transferred often to churches in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Arizona. Callan's name was included in 2011 on a list of Jesuits identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse. The Jesuit Oregon Province agreed to make the list public as part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan. Details of accusations against Callan were not provided.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Callan_Francis_W_sj.htm

(Jacobson was ordained in 1959. Quigg and Callan were ordained in 1960. Callan died in 1991. Jacobson's photo is here: http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Jacobson_James_E_sj.htm

Quigg's photo is available by contacting js98367@hotmail.com or SNAPdorris@gmail.com

SNAP does NOT have a photo of Fr. Callan.)

4) Finally, for the safety of kids, SNAP also wants Sartain to permanently post on his archdiocesan website the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of all child molesting clerics (proven, admitted and credibly accused) who live/lived or work/worked in the Seattle area. Roughly 30 US bishops have taken this step over the past decade. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm

According to a Boston-based independent research group called BishopAccountabilty.org, there are 33 publicly accused Seattle archdiocesan child molesting clerics. SNAP notes that the actual number of Seattle area pedophile priests is likely much higher because BishopAccountability.org lists only those clerics against whom allegations have been lodge in the public domain in civil lawsuits, criminal prosecution or news accounts.

(In just the last few weeks, several Catholic institutions in Minnesota have voluntarily disclosed lists of predator priests, including the dioceses of Duluth and Crookston and two religious orders: the Crosiers and the Benedictines in Minnesota.)

http://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/info/safe-environment/

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/2014_01_24_Lee_Crookston_Diocese.pdf

http://www.dioceseduluth.org/cmanager/File/Communications/Names.pdf

SNAP is urging anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups – involving these three clerics or others – to “call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.”